1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to the art of cooking appliances and, more particularly, to a door linkage system for an oven having French-style doors.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
It is widely known to provide a cooking appliance, such as an oven range or a wall oven, with a single, generally rectangularly shaped door that pivots about a horizontal axis. That is, a top portion of the oven door is pulled outward from the appliance about horizontally disposed hinges and lowered into a horizontal position to provide access to the oven cavity. While this type of oven door has found wide spread use, it is not entirely satisfactory for every application. For instance, an oven door that rotates about a horizontal axis projects outward from the appliance a considerable distance. This distance must be taken into consideration when deciding where to locate the appliance in the kitchen. Otherwise, the opened door could interfere with traffic patterns in the kitchen or with access to other cabinetry. In addition, such an oven door may require a consumer to stand at a side of the appliance to fully access the oven cavity. In order to address this problem, some manufacturers provide their ovens with one or more doors that swing open about substantially vertical axes.
Incorporating French-style doors into cooking appliances is also known in the art. An oven employing French-style doors will typically include a linkage that translates linearly so as to cause both of the doors to open or close when either one of the doors is operated. In this manner, the doors can be operated with only one hand, leaving the other hand free to hold a food item. While this type of door arrangement does address many of the shortcomings associated with horizontally swinging doors, French-style doors include several shortcomings of their own. For example, proper door sealing to avoid excessive heat loss from the oven cavity is an important concern. In at least arrangements employing doors which interengage when closed, in order for the doors to close and seal properly, one of the doors must lag relative to the other. In this manner, a proper seal can be maintained about the oven cavity without requiring a consumer to close each of the doors separately. Moreover, the linkage must properly retain the doors in the closed position in order to ensure that hot oven gases do not escape. Other areas of concern include providing end stops or detents so that the doors do not inadvertently swing shut.
Therefore, despite the existence of French-style doors employed in cooking appliances of the prior art, there still exists a need for an improved door linkage system for a French-style oven door arrangement. More specifically, there exists a need for a linkage system that can be adjusted to alter closure timing of the doors, exert a suitable sealing force upon the doors, and minimize pinch points for the linkage system.